Looking ahead to 2011: some likely winners and laggards December 14, 2010 FROM sovereign debt crises threatening the very future of the euro to currency wars and more quantitative easing, 2010 has been an eventful year in the foreign exchange markets. Currency traders will be pleased to hear that volatility, which has been so characteristic of the FX markets since the crisis, is unlikely to disappear any [...]
US Fed to continue bond buying despite positive economic data December 14, 2010 STRONGER-than-expected US retail sales in November and rising producer prices have added to evidence that its economic recovery is gathering pace in the fourth quarter. But the Federal Reserve said the improvement was still too slow to bring down unemployment and confirmed it would still buy $600bn (£380bn) in bonds to stimulate growth and create [...]
DESPITE ALL US EQUITIES STILL CLIMB December 13, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT THERE has been a mixed reaction to the news that Congressional Republicans and President Obama have reached a deal to extend the Bush tax cuts. While a number of Democrats have expressed outrage that the cuts will continue for everyone, the package should be accepted. This helped lift US equities and [...]
Americans want Fed controlled December 9, 2010 More than half of Americans say they want to rein in the Federal Reserve, says a poll. The Bloomberg National Poll showed that 39 per cent of all Americans want the Fed to be more accountable, while 16 per cent want to abolish the Fed altogether. Republicans and independents are generally sympathetic to ending the [...]
US is about to shoot itself in the foot December 6, 2010 IT is not just Britain and Europe that are shooting themselves in the foot with stupid, job and wealth-destroying policies. The same is true of America, where investors, entrepreneurs and business leaders face the threat of a wave of new taxes. This ought to matter to everybody who works in London, because the health of [...]
QE3 is a real possibility, says Fed chairman Ben Bernanke December 6, 2010 AMERICA may need a third dose of quantitative easing (QE) to avoid its economy slumping back into recession, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke predicted as he reported a gloomy outlook for the economy. America’s recovery would suffer deflation and fail to become “self sustaining” without the Fed’s interventions, he claimed in a rare television interview [...]
Bernanke’s caution worries Wall Street December 6, 2010 US stocks ended little changed yesterday, held in check by worries about Europe’s debt crisis, which frustrated investors looking for a reason to take shares to new highs for the year. Germany rejected a call for Eurozone finance ministers to increase the size of a €750bn safety net for debt-stricken members. A decline in the [...]
AN ODD MIX OF SIGNALS, SO BUY GOLD December 6, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT THE LAST few weeks have seen an overall improvement in reported economic data, especially in the US. We have seen a pick-up in a number of influential reports, including the Richmond Fed manufacturing survey, the Chicago Fed National Activity index, Chicago PMI and consumer confidence. This led to a feeling that [...]
Fed could buy up more government bonds admits Bernanke December 6, 2010 The Federal Reserve could end up buying more than the $600bn in US government bonds it has committed to purchase if the economy fails to respond or unemployment stays too high, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said. The Fed will regularly review the policy and could adjust the amount of buying up or down depending on [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 5, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES IRISH BANKS FACE LOANS SELL OFF Ireland will have to accelerate the shrinking of its troubled banks’ balance sheets in return for gaining continued access to emergency European funding. According to people briefed on the details of Ireland’s €85bn (£72bn) bail-out by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, the banks will [...]